1st Test Preview: India aim to conquer another peak, South Africa eager to mark start of revival
After pummelling almost every side at home and similar conditions for a couple of years, Virat Kohli and his men embarked on their first “challenging” tour around the same time four years ago. They had shown remarkable bowling resources, incredible batting quality and promises unprecedented successes on the overseas tour which have been unceremonious on most occasions. The Indian juggernaut started in South Africa but Kohli and his men paid the price of not becoming clear-headed in their approach and indiscipline in batting. They were exposed as a side that still had too many chinks in their armour and the Proteas had a superman in the form of AB de Villiers which clearly stood form between the sides to exploit every bit of the gap in performance the men in blue promised to offer and they actually produced on the tour. Their batting was proved ineffective throughout the series and even a red hot Kohli could not provide enough cushioning. What was to be a promising and jubilant ride threatened to unravel in South Africa even before it could take off. However, then came the depth of the side and inspiring performances one after another and fast forward to 2021 when Kohli is back again in the rainbow nation for his second round of the bout, he has achieved many feats his predecessors could only have dreamt of. He has seen his side winning two back to back Test series in Australia, a dominating performance in an incomplete series in England. New Zealand was a blip where they were once again found out against the swing and seam of the Blackcaps but the promises that they were offering before the start of their overseas cycle in 2017-18 has been delivered on most fronts. Now, as Kohli has come back to the South African shores, he would like to have side play the brand of cricket he always envisioned them and himself of playing. He would want his side to be at their best throughout the length of the series and produce a series of flawless performances to break another jinx and achieve another “for the first time in history” event. Will the highly respectable batting side stand up? Kohli would do well to take the batting issue head-on he would have found out what is plaguing them and are not letting them become an indomitable force in the world of Test cricket. India have always been deemed as a batting-heavy side but ironically they have been dealt major blows by the opposition due to their batting failure and the issues that plagued them on the last tour of South Africa is still a concern to lose sleep over even after a four-year-long gap. India have come closer to winning their first Test series on both their last two tours in the country but they ran out on fuel on both occasions due to contrasting challenges. MS Dhoni could not find fire in his bowling attack to dismantle Jacque Kallis and the lower order in Cape Town in 2011 while his batsmen led by Sachin Tendulkar had set the game up beautifully. On the other hand, Kohli could not find himself at the top of his game except on two out of six occasions and his batting group let the bowling attack down who took all the 60 wickets across the three-Test long series. India’s bowling attack continue to be stronger and rather it has gone a leap higher in terms of quality with the emergence of the likes of Mohammad Siraj and Shardul Thakur. They will be in the game throughout the series but Kohli and co. will have to stand up with the bat to give the Proteas run for their money. In all the three major successes India have had in the last four years, they have not been able to do without a major batting collapse and Kohli would do well to remind his side that a three-match long series doesn’t offer too many chances to come back as a five-match long or four-match long series provides. Hence, right from the start, the batting order starting from KL Rahul to Shardul Thakur and Ravichandran Ashwin in the lower order, all will have to be counted for their brilliance with the bat if India have to write another chapter of history. An examination of South Africa’s efforts Skipper Dean Elgar was highly appreciative of India’s rise in the longest format and he had no qualms in accepting Kohli-led side as the “best team in the world”. However, he took pride and comfort in South Africa’s prosperous record against them in their “backyard” and hence did not rule the prospect of the Proteas. He also rated the Indian bowling attack very highly and no one in the Proteas side knows more about the quality of the Indian pace bowling unit better than him. He copped all the blows on his body when the quartet of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma and Bhubaneshwar Kumar were running with all their venom to win a game at the Wanderers on the last tour. He forms the vital cog of the South Africa batting unit and his patience and resilience at the top of the order will set the tone and template for the hosts in the series that he himself expects to be a tougher series than most they have been part of. If he can lead his troops with control and calmness that has been associated with him for many years now, he will build a path for the Proteas on which they can walk in the dream of their revival at the world stage. Match details South Africa vs India Match- 1 Venue: SuperSport Park, Centurion Date and Time: December 26-30, 01:30 PM IST, 8:00 AM GMT Broadcast: Star Sports 1 and Hotstar Pitch and weather The SuperSport Park has a history of providing consistent seam movement and decent bounce to pace bowlers but India will take heart from Ravichandran Ashwin’s four-wicket haul in the first innings of the last Test the sides played at the same venue. India however struggled against the seam of Morne Morkel and the pitch for the first Test of the series should not be seen as anywhere closer to bating-friendly for them against the likes of Kagiso Rabada, Duanne Olivier and Lungi Ngidi. It should be noted that Test cricket in South Africa is played with Kookaburan ball and hence both batting against and bowling with the new ball will leave a lasting impact on the game and series. Team News South Africa South Africa don’t expect the SuperSport Park pitch to offer anything other than pace and bounce but Elgar has also backed his left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj to make a difference with the ball. Maharaj is all set to play and so is George Lindey, who will provide the much sought after balance to the playing XI with his seam bowling and dependable batting. The Proteas could also go for Marco Jansen, who brings left-arm seam variety to the table. The top order is settled with the skipper Elgar forming the opening partnership with Aiden Markram and Keegan Petersen expected to bat at number three. The likes of Temba Bavuma, Rassie van der Dussen and Quinton de Kock will form the middle order for South Africa in Centurion. Rabada, Ngidi and the comeback man Olivier should form the trio of pace bowlers for the hosts. Probable XI Dean Elgar (C), Aiden Markram, Temba Bavuma, Rassie van der Dussen, Keegan Petersen, Quinton de Kock (WK), Wiaan Mulder, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Duanne Olivier, Keshav Maharaj. India With the absence of Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin is all set to play his first overseas Test since the World Test Championship final against New Zealand in June. He was overlooked for the all-round skills of Jadeja for the four Tests against England and the three-game long series against the Proteas will give him the perfect opportunity to establish his all-round pedigree once again. The emergence of Siraj and his ability to extract seam movement off the surface makes him an undroppable pacer among the reliable group compared to Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav. Siraj should form the trio along with Bumrah and Shami. However, the elephant in the room for Team India would be the choice of playing XI in terms of playing either an extra batsman at number six or a pace-bowling all-rounder in Shardul Thakur. He showed remarkable quality in England and deserves a place in the side but will Kohli risk a thin batting line up in a short series? Their new vice-captain KL Rahul gave a strong hint at continuing with a five-man bowling attack and in that case, they will have to go through what Rahul called “difficult discussion” over the selection of one among Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari and Shreyas Iyer. There is a wide range of arguments both in support and against the selection of each of them and it will rest on Kohli and Rahul Dravid shoulders to accept what school of ideas they want to stick to at the start of an important series. Probable XI Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (c), Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (WK), Shardul Thakur, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah. CE Fantasy XI Quinton de Kock, Rishabh Pant, Mayank Agarwal, Virat Kohli, Aiden Markram, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Duanne Olivier, Jasprit Bumrah, Kagiso Rabada
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